I never preach on giving or ask for money," I once told a fellow pastor. "I just leave it up to the people."

"Do you teach your people to study the Bible?" he asked.

"Of course," I said.

"Do you teach them to pray?"

"Certainly."

"If you taught your people to give in a biblical manner, would they receive more or less blessing from God?"

I sat in silence. I realized I was hurting my people, not helping them. In addition, our church was in severe financial stress.

When I went home, I committed myself to teach all of God's Word, including giving. In the years since, I have seen God work in our church in amazing ways, and he has brought our people to new levels of maturity.

Here are 12 principles I've learned about growing givers.

A Full-Orbed Approach

Often church leaders work countless hours planning how to limit spending, but they focus little attention on how to increase giving. We succeed where we focus our time and energy.

1. Plan ahead. To be effective, we must prepare for ...